John's Johto
by LanserT2
Summary: When John moves from his hometown, tragedy strikes, but he also meets an eevee who will change his life and set him off on an adventure through Johto. Rated T just in case, violence.
1. Prologue: New Home Troubles

First fic, but feel free to flame away.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, plz dun kill me.  
"..." = Human speech  
_"..." = Pokemon cry or speech__  
_*...* = Thoughts of current character  
-_-_-_-_ = Scene change/Perspective change

* * *

A small boy with short, ragged brown hair sat on the steps of porch of a small house near Lake of Rage. He was wearing whatever random clothes he found that now, he was just staring at the ground, thinking about his new home after his family moved from Cherrygrove city. He had to leave everything he knew behind and move to an unfamiliar place. He couldn't see his friends, the ocean, or anything else that mattered to him. His parents were inside the house, unpacking their belongings, but the boy's mood started to worry them. The little boy had been sitting outside for an hour now, so both his mother and his father stepped outside to talk to their son.

His mother went first, trying to comfort him, "John, sweety, we know it is hard to move to someplace new, but you have to cheer up. Think of all the new friends you can meet in Mahogany, and all the new pokemon you can see out in the wild!"

"Oh, and we live near a lake. That's almost like the ocean," his father chimed in, "Ummm, uhhh, hey! You can still go swimming and meet water pokemon that live there."

The boy, Johnathan Ruclib, looked up at the forest that stood not not too far away from the house. There was a lake around here somewhere, but somehow that wasn't the same as the ocean, regardless if they were both made of water. There weren't as many trainers out here to show off their pokemon, either. Trainers would always come and go in Cherrygrove.

"Mom, dad, I'm going to go take a walk. Maybe that'll cheer me up!" Trying to sound more enthusiastic than he really felt. Besides, maybe he will get lucky and really will find a trainer. There WAS suppose to be a gym in Mahogany.

His excuse worked, apparently, as both his parent smiled.

"Okay, but be careful, and don't go to far! We'll be done unpacking by the time you get back!"

John walked out into the forest. For a sunny day, there was an eerie silence that engulfed the forest, and this made John uneasy.

An eevee was darting through the forest, as fast as her legs could carry her. The trees whizzed past her, one by one. She had to keep running.

_"Fearow!"_

*What did I do to piss off this fearow? I was only looking for berries!*

From a bush to her left, a fearow came and thrust it's beak at her. She dodged the attacks and proceeded to run the other dirrection. For apparently no reason at all, she had an angry fearow chasing her, trying to impale her with it's overly long beak.

*How did he get that close that fast?*

_"Fear...row!"_

The fearow flew over some low hanging branches while still in pursuit of the fluffy, small, brown eevee. Eevee kept running, zigzagging through the trees, only barely keeping ahead of the fearow. Those low hanging branched were the only thing keeping her alive, letting her keep a short distance ahead of the fearow.

Her heart sunk as she entered a small clearing. There was a single apricorn tree in the middle.

She was dead, she knew she was dead.

The small boy with the ragged-brown hair sat at the edge of the clearing, trying to take a nap, when he heard something that sounded like... a fearow.

*Oh great. The first pokemon I'm going to meet out here is a fearow. And a mad one at that.*

He stood up, ready to leave if the fearow dubbed him dinner, when he saw a small, brown, mammalian creature run into the clearing. The first thing he noticed were drops of tears falling from it's emerald green eyes.

*That was weird, weren't an eevee's eyes suppose to be...*

His thought was interrupted as a fearow emerged from the trees, and flew straight towards the eevee. It then used it's beak to fling the eevee into the air, in which it sailed through, before crashing into the apricorn tree. The eevee struggled to get up, before collapsing back beside the tree and coughing up blood. The fearow flew up to the eevee.

*I have to do something, or...*

The fearow got ready to thrust his beak into the small, helpless creature. It was then that the boy ran in and attacked the fearow, and shoved it out of the air onto the ground a few meters away. John got up and looked at the fearow before turning to his hands, which had a slight blue glow around them which quickly dissipated. He then turned to the eevee, which was looking at him in shock. John ran over to the eevee and scooped it up.

"Gotcha"

John ran off in the direction of a path he found, getting a head start before the dazed fearow realized what happened, but was soon being pursued by the fearow, now more angry then ever.

The fearow was right behind him when it proceeded to use an aerial ace attack. John dived forward just in time, hitting the ground hard as a gust of wind passed by him. He wasted no time getting back and begun running the other direction.

John ran for a few minutes with the fearow right behind him, dodging stabs from it's beak and swings from it's wings. For a moment, it looked as if he had lost the fearow, so John finnaly turned around to see where the fearow was. That was a bad decision as he then felt his next step make contact with nothing but air as he stumbled off a short cliff, and fell into the body of water below.

The fearow, now perched at the top of the cliff, watched the water below. It then flew away, content as the only think to resurface from the water were magickarp who seemed just as agitated as the fearow.

John managed to swim away from where he fell. He couldn't stay underwater for too long, or else the eevee would drown. He just hoped the fearow would give up, thinking it won. John swam along the cliff-side for a short period of time before resurfacing. He looked at the green-eyed eevee in his arms. It was unharmed and staring right back at him. No. She was staring right back at him. He didn't know how, but he was sure the eevee was a she.

"You okay?"

John continued to swim, and headed for a small wooden pier he saw in the distance.

_"Vui! Ee Vui!"__  
__  
_John thought he heard a girl's voice say 'yes, thank you', but he shook his head, partially to clear it from that thought, and partially to start drying it off, as his parents hated when he got the house wet and dirty. He looked back at the cliff where he fell and saw nothing before turning back to the eevee.

"No fearow, I guess we lost it. I swim a lot back where I'm from so don't worry, I'll get you back on land real soon."

John set the eevee up on the wooden pier before he climbed up himself. His clothes were soaked, what were mom and dad going to say? He saw the eevee shake off the water from her fur, so he decided to mimic her, trying to shake the water off his clothes.

It didn't work so well.

Eevee walked over to the shore before sitting and deciding to watch the silly boy dance around on the pier. She giggled when John managed to trip and fall back in the water.

John walked out of the water this time, towards the shore, and sat next to her.

"So much for trying to dry off. At least you're dry."

He rubbed her behind the ear. She didn't look too seriously hurt, but she did cough up blood back in the clearing... he should probably use a potion just in case. The sun was beginning to set, so John looked back towards the direction his house SHOULD be. He stood up and looked at the horizon a bit closer and noticed a column of black smoke and fel something was wrong... something with his parents was wrong.

Eevee sat there, looking at the strange human boy as he stared at something on the horizon. She heard him mumble something before taking off in a sprint as if the fearow were after them again.

*What is that crazy boy doing?*

She didn't want him to leave, so she started after him, running as fast as she could with her sore legs. She had to follow him, though. Something about the boy was special.

Eevee followed the boy down a long road, but John kept racing ahead until he was just a small figure on the horizon. That's when she noticed the smoke and the flicker of fire.

"Mom! Dad!"

The boy stopped outside a blazing house. This let Eevee catch up to him, but she was afraid for the boy... what was he doing?

"MOM! DAD! Can you hear me!"

She could...feel...the pain in his voice. He was facing the fire and calling for his parents. She was almost there, and she knew what he was going to do. She had to hurry.

"Nonononono... MOOOOM! DAAAAD!"

As he yelled again, he took off running towards the flaming building that no longer stood, not too far from the forest.

John ran toward his flaming, collapsed house. It felt as if his parents were... no, he could still save them. He might only be nine, but he could do it.

_"Eei eei vui!"_

John heard an eevee's cries behind him, but he also heard that same voice from earlier. The same girl's voice. _"Noooo, don't go!"_

He kept running. But felt something start to drag his left leg back.

_"Vui eei. Vui ee vui!"__  
__"Don't leave me. Please don't leave me!"__  
_  
He slowed to a stop, and look down at the green-eyed eevee. He fell to his knees and began to cry. He knew they were gone... almost as if he felt them die. He was going to run in and kill himself, trying to save dead people. He looked back at the eevee that stopped him. Something about this eevee, something was special. He as to stay... for her.

The eevee jumped at him in a hug to try and comfort the sad child, but began to cry herself. The both sat there, crying in each others arms in front of the orange and red flames. All of it now under the now starry sky.

* * *

A/N: o look a flame already. muhahahaha... alrite that was bad. Hope you lived through my poor attempt at a story. Yay boredom for the win. I guess you could call this a test... I have all these ideas for scenes in my head, but I didn't quite realize how hard it was to connect them and not make it boring. xD


	2. Chapter 1: Five Years

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon... sad face.

A/N: After looking at the first chapter, I figured I could change a few things to make the story run smoother and a bit longer, so I rewrote this chapter from what I had.  
Oh btw later on, the move Mindpower (Japanese name) is Confusion (English name).

* * *

A Fourteen year-old boy shot out of bed after an odd, bitter-sweet dream... the same dream that he had every year on this day. He wiped away the tears from his eyes before reaching over to the desk to find his pokegear. It was only 9:30, which was early considering that he would always sleep in to noon.

Johnathan Ruclib decided that he might as well get up and get ready, since he wouldn't be able to go back to bed now. He stood up and looked around the room. It was the same messy room it had been for the past five years. His computer was on, but no one was there, so he figured the reason for it being on was that Vapor was trying to find something to do while waiting for him to get up.

John went to the bathroom to go get ready for the day. When his parents died in the fire five years ago, John moved in with his only other relative, his Auntie Raan. She lived in the traditional town of Violet City, and had owned a second house, which which was where John and Vapor lived. Vapor was John's eevee, and refused to leave his side after they met. He was one of the student instructors at the local Pokemon school, as well as a junior trainer at the Violet City Gym.

He finished getting ready, put on some jeans, which were fairly worn out, his blue school instructor jacket, and walked to the kitchen to make some breakfast. Vapor the eevee was sitting on the kitchen table. She was staring up at him with her emerald green eyes.

_"You smell nice today."  
_  
Vapor noticed John's face turn a rosy red. She giggled at this.

"Well, ummm, uhh I guess that happens after you take a shower." It sounded more like a question than a comment. Vapor jumped into his arms.

_"You're up early, too. Couldn't sleep?" _Vapor already knew why he was up, though.

John just shrugged and walked over to the counter and dropped Vapor to the floor. Yes it was breakfast, but John didn't like your traditional breakfast food. He grabbed a rice steamer and put the rice grains into it.

_"Your going to eat rice again? Don't you ever get tired of it?"  
_  
"No. It tastes good and it's easy to make. Besides, when life gives you rice, you make rice balls. " John went to the refrigerator and got out a sugary bean-paste and some seaweed. "See, almost like dessert but good enough to last the day. Here I'll make some for you to try. You'll like it, I promise."

John had made a few when the rice had finished steaming, and handed one to Vapor., who was watching from the table. She took a bite out of it.

_"Your right, these are good."_

"Told ya"

Vapor spoke up after finishing off the food, _"Oh by the way, I sorta... umm... checked your email. Falkner said someone was in town to so you."_

"Really? On today of all days..." John starred at the ceiling, "Well, I wonder who it could be. Hey lets go find out... we could pick up some groceries for Auntie Raan while we're out. I'm still wondering how you figured out how to use my computer"

_"I'm special like that."_

"Yeah, you are."

John wrapped a few of the rice balls together and put it in his bag for later. And then backpack over his shoulder. He grabbed an empty pokeball from the table and clipped it on his belt. Vapor jumped into his arms, and they both proceeded to the door of the house.

They walked outside into the traditional town of Violet City. It was a beautiful, cloudless day outside... and they both hated it.

Vapor let out a disappointed sigh, _"No rain again? This weather is really horrible this year."  
_  
John looked up at the bright sun in the sky, shielding his eyes from looking directly at it. "Maybe we should move to Sinnoh... they get lots of rain and snow."

"John, stop complaining! It's nice and warm outside! It's a perfect day!"

John turned around to see Elly, one of his childhood friends from Cherrygrove, running up to him. She was two years older than him, but he still managed to equal her in height. She had straight black hair that ran down to her shoulder-blades. She was wearing a purple spaghetti top under a black, long-sleeved fishing net shirt that fit loosely. She was wearing blue jeans like John, but had rolled them up to just below the knees.

She then put a finger to his nose. "YOU need to learn to like this weather." She took a step back and put her hands on her hips, "Besides, it doesn't help that you are wearing a jacket."

"What? Hey, I sorta have to wear this jacket.. luckily it's light, or I would be crispy right now. Besides, if I was wearing a jacket or not, I would still bake in the sun."

"You're crazy. This is perfect weather for anything..."

John cut in, "Except everything."

Elly shot a look his direction, "Anything. I mean, you can play with pokemon, go swimming, play games, travel, or just sit in the grass!"

"And bake in the grass, too?"

Elly was visibly getting annoyed. Vapor wriggled in John's arms, holding back giggles.

_"I think she is debating whether to smack you or not."  
_  
John looked at the fluffy eevee in his arms, "Well, that's why I have you here to protect me so she can't do that."

_"You know what? I might smack you too." _She said this playfully.

"Uh oh, now there are two girls that want to kill me?"

Elly just stood there, looking confused as John appeared to be have a conversation with a pokemon again... as if he understood them. Vapor noticed the confused girl standing there.

_"Uh, John? Maybe you should stop replying to me when there are people around. They're all going to think you're crazy."_

"Huh? Oh! Uh sorry Elly."

"Its OK, you do that a lot." An alarm on Elly's pokegear sounded. "Oh, I have to get back to the pokemon center, seeya round!"

John and Vapor watched as the girl ran towards the city's pokemon center.

_"Hehe, try to remember you are the only one able to understand me or else you're going to get thrown in an insane asylum."_

"I'll try to work on that."

oOo

Falkner was distributing bowls of pokemon food to his three flying-types after a morning of practice. He then noticed that the elevator used to bring people to the gym's battlefield was moving. The door opened once the elevator reached the top floor, and out stepped a boy wearing a light purple and red jacket.

John waved over to the gym leader. "Hey! How's it going?"

"Well, John, you're up earlier than usual... although I can probably guess why."

John looked over to the Pidgeot, Dodrio, and Hoothoot, all enjoying a large lunch. "Heh, tough morning of training? Ummm, yeah, Vapor told me that someone wanted to see me."

"Yes, I know what today is... but... a friend of your mother stopped by the gm when she heard you were training here."

"My mother? Who?"

"Ask her yourself, she is standing over there."

John looked over to the sidelines of the stadium battlefield, and saw a woman playing with an espeon. She had relatively straight, dark-blue hair and red eyes. She was wearing white leather pants and a pink top. Around each of her wrists were large greenish rungs. Psychic bracers maybe?

Vapor suddenly became exited. _"John, John! Do you know who she is?"  
_  
"Uh, she looks familiar..."

Vapor playfully smacked John on the nose with her paw, _"That Sabrina, silly. You know the gym leader from Saffron City in Kanto?"_

"Wait, are you sure?"

Sabrina walked up to the bewildered boy. "Hi. Are you John?"

John blinked and pointed at himself. Sabrina nodded. "Yeah. But wait... my mother knew a gym leader?"

The gym leader nodded, "Yes. We knew each other as children. She was the only friend I really had after we discovered out psychic abilities. She, uh, moved away from the city before I became gym leader. After I heard what happened..."

"Wait, you said 'we'. Was my mother psychic too?"

"Yes, and I believe you might be too."

Falkner, who was tending to his pokemon once again, yelled a comment, "Well, considering you seem to be able to carry on conversations with pokemon, I'd have to agree with that."

"How does that make me psychic?"

"When a pokemon speaks, my guess is that you use their mind to translate what they are saying for your own mind. Your mother could do the same thing."

John dropped his head a bit. His mother was a pokemon trainer? She never said a word about it... in fact, she seemed to dislike trainers all together.

"I came from Saffron City to say I'm sorry. For what happened to your parents and for what you have to go through. I only just learned about it a week ago."

"Thank you for coming here." John was still hanging his head down, thinking about his parents.

Sabrina reached into a small bag she had with her. "Here, John, I think you should have this more than me." She pulled out a necklace. On the end of the thin metal chain was a shimmering blue stone in the shape of a teardrop. It was a Mystic Water.

"Your mother gave this to me before she left Saffron; something to remember her by... But I think you should have it instead."

Sabrina held out her open palm with the Mystic Water. John slowly picked up the necklace and turned it over a few times, examining it. Vapor could finally see the necklace, now that it was in John's hands.

_"Wow. It's really beautiful."_

"Yeah, it is. Thank you Sabrina."

Sabrina smiled, "Of course. I have to get back to Saffron City." She turned to shout in Falkner's direction, "Falkner, it was good to see you again!"

"Same here, Sabrina. Take care on your way back home."

Sabrina and her espeon walked to the elevator. The door closed and the elevator descended. Both John and Vapor continued to stare at the necklace, almost mesmerized by it, before Falkner interrupted their concentration.

"John, come over here. I have one more thing to give you."

John walked over and noticed that Falkner had a blue and white device with a pokemon symbol on it.

"Wait. That's a Pokedex. You aren't giving that to me... are you?"

"Well, you've already done a lot for this gym and the school in this town. I think you and Vapor should go register for the Johto competitions."

Falkner handed John the Pokedex.

_"Really? That means you could be a real pokemon trainer! We could travel all over Johto!"_

"But what about Auntie Raan? Will, she be okay with us gone? I mean we have lived here for five years..."

John heard a voice from the direction of the elevator. "Don't worry about me. I took care of myself before you came here."

John looked back. It was his aunt with her purple hooded cloak. She wasn't much of a people person.

"Besides, you are still young. You should get out and see the world before its too late. Go to New Bark Town and register as a trainer."

John and Vapor looked at the Pokedex and pushed the button. It flipped open.

'This Pokedex unit belongs to Johnathan Ruclib of Violet City.'

_"I guess we should go pack, then." _Vapor took off running towards the elevator. John turned back ot Falkner.

"Thanks, Falkner."

oOo

John walked down the dirt path with Vapor right at his heels. It was early morning, and had just packed up their camping site. They had left yesterday afternoon, to begin their own journey through Johto.

_"John, are you okay?" _She could tell he was distracted.

"You know, I've always wanted to be a pokemon trainer... But now that its happening, it feels... weird."

_"Why? Elly is already a trainer and you are already fourteen."  
_  
"I don't know. Maybe..." Vapor interrupted him, determined to cheer him up. She leapt up into his arms.

_"Besides, you have me. What could go wrong?"  
_  
John laughed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. We are going to be Pokemon Masters!"

Vapor giggled at John's outburst. He was always much more fun when he was happy. _"Right, you're going to be a Pokemon Master, I'm just a pokemon."_

"Oh, sorry."

_"Don't worry, as long as I'm with you..."  
_  
Their conversation was interrupted by shouting from behind.

"Hey! Crazy kid! You a pokemon trainer?" Another boy, a bit younger than John, was standing not too far off in the distance. He had black, curly hair, and freckles on his face. He was wearing mostly black clothes and was rather skinny.

"Yeah, I'm a trainer. On my way to register in New Bark Town."

"Oh really, with a puny eevee? You probably ain't even getting there without being beat-ed by wild pokemon."

John noticed his vocabulary, or lack there of. He should have stayed in school.

_"He has three pokeballs on his belt. I think he is a new trainer from New Bark Town."_

The other boy started to get impatient at the fact that John wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying. He began shouting more. "Hey! Are you even listening to me? You know what? I'll prove your eevee is weak by beating it in a pokemon battle!"

"Well... If you want..." John shrugged. New trainers always challenged him, looking for an easy win against an eevee that looks harmless. "Vapor, you want to battle?"

_"Sure, but I don't think he knows what he is getting himself into."_

Vapor jumped down from John's arms and stepped forward, ready for the match. John dropped his bag to the ground, a perfect time to give his shoulders a break. The other boy threw out one of his three pokeballs. It opened in mid-air and out came a flash of energy, followed by the squeals of a totodile.

"Totodile, use water gun!"

"Just zig-zag, Vapor."

The totodile let out a rather powerful water gun, but had little experience with aiming. Vapor was able to jump over or leap to the side before the water gun could hit. Vapor quickly moved back and forth, until she was standing right next to the totodile.

_"Toto..." _Vapor tackled it at point blank range. _"...dile!"_

With a single tackle, totodile fell backwards, and fainted.

"What? How did you defeat... Fine! Go, Rattata! Use quick attack!"

"Vapor, use your own quick attack!"

Before the rattata could get her hind legs off the ground, Vapor slammed into her side. The rattata fell to the side, tried to get up again, but collapsed.

"Rattata, get up! I command you to get up, you weak piece of..."

"I suggest you stop now and get a pokemon center, for the good of your pokemon. Come on, Vapor, lets get to Cherrygrove before nightfall."

"NO WAY!"

The boy took out his last pokeball and threw it forward. Out came an espeon. John stood there, confused. An espeon evolved through it's trainer's trust... but the way he treated his pokemon...

"Espeon, use Mindpower... on that trainer!"

_"Espi?"  
"What?"_

"Do it!"

The espeon turned to John. Wait you weren't suppose to attack the trainer. John was lifted into the air before being flung backwards into a tree.

The boy ran over to Vapor and picked her up. She tried to struggle, but the boy squeezed all the energy out of her.

"Only I deserve skilled pokemon, not you!"

oOo

The world was spinning. Everything was blurry. John stood back up, but wobbled as he tried to regain balance. He saw a blurry figure in black running away from him... there was something he was squeezing in his arms.

_"John! Help me!"_

Oh no! That boy was trying to steal Vapor! John started after him. He wasn't going to let Vapor go with some sorry excuse for a trainer. He stumbled forward a few steps before sprinting after him.

Vapor couldn't fight back. It felt like she was being crushed... no she WAS being crushed with that boy squeezing so hard. She screamed as she felt a sharp pain in her chest, followed by two cracks.

*John, where are you...*

The boy had run into a small crack on the side of a cliff hoping to lose his pursuer. It was a dead end for him. John followed close behind and went towards the cave-like opening. The espeon jumped to the front to guard her trainer. John stopped in front of the espeon and started to think of what to do next.

*That espeon. It'll stop me whenever I go forward... So what do I do... It hesitated when it was ordered to attack him. An espeon only evolved though trust, so this boy was not her first trainer... what if...*

"Espeon, do you really want to do this?"

_"What?" _She replied with a female voice._  
_  
"Pokemon aren't bad, so why follow a trainer that orders you to do bad things?"

_"But... he is... my master."_

"But he isn't your friend. He also wasn't the trainer you evolved with... what would they think of you? What would they say when they see you doing bad things like kidnapping other people's friends?"

_"She would... I..." _Her voice trailed off as she stepped to the side. She didn't trust her trainer, so why did she listen to him.

"What are you doing, espeon? Protect me! Do it!"

The espeon shook her head.

"Fine, if I can't have this eevee, you can't either!"

The boy dropped Vapor on a rock, and pulled out a switchblade knife and raised it into the air. John tackled him into a wall. The impact took the kidnapper boy off guard and the impact with the wall knocked the wind out of him. John grabbed the arm which held the knife, held it out straight, before using his knee to bend it back. A snap could be heard from the area of the elbow. The knife dropped to the ground. John took his own elbow and smashed it into his nose. John then grabbed his other arm and swung him outside the cave. The boy landed on the ground.

"Someone like you shouldn't even be allowed to be a trainer. I'm reporting you to the cops."

The boy in black quickly got up and took off running. The espeon took a few steps to follow, and turned back to look at John, who was now kneeling down with Vapor in his arms. He saw the espeon look at him.

"Thank you for helping me, espeon. Be careful."

The espeon quickly nodded before chasing after her trainer.

John hurried back to the road to find his pack. He looked down at the unconscious eevee in his arms. There was a deep gash in her side from being dropped on the rock, and a lot of blood was coming from the wound. John found his bag on the road, and pulled out the first aid kit and a pokemon potion. It was designed for humans, but maybe he could use it to stop the bleeding. John used a potion and then wrapped up Vapor's wound. He couldn't do anymore here, he had to get to the pokemon center... he had to get to Cherrygrove City.

*Hold on Vapor. We're almost there...*

* * *

A/N: Vapor has bad luck. O.o


	3. Chapter 2: Saviors

Disclaimer: blah blah don't own blah blah don't kill me.

So I realized I haven't written very much for John's description, although I already have what he looked like, so I decided that I could give his more permanent looks in Cherrygrove, his home town, as it would fit what I want to write and let me add a few things.

* * *

...he had to keep running...

But his legs felt so heavy. It felt like the earth itself was dragging at him, trying to slow him down, but he kept running. He kept running because he couldn't give up on the eevee that had been with him since that day, John looked down at the eevee laying in his arms. He couldn't see her calming emerald eyes like he always could in tough situations. Though John was tired, he never slowed down.

The lights of a city were visible on the horizon.

...he had to keep running... for her.

oOo

_Nothing. Absolute darkness. Vapor had her eyes open wide, but could only see an endless void of darkness. She spun in circles, trying to find him._

_" V a p o r ! "_

_She stopped. In front of her, in the distance, she saw John. He was running towards her as fast as he could._

"John! Help me!"

_Vapor blinked. Why did she call for help? She wasn't in any danger... But she began to run towards the image in the distance. She was scared to be b herself with nothing but emptiness surrounding her. The more she ran, the further her goal was, as if the darkness was consuming John. She kept running, until she couldn't see John at all._

"No! John don't leave me!."

_She blinked back forming tears, but was now suddenly in front of a burning house. Vapor backed away from the flame, again looking around to figure out where she was. She felt something warm and wet on her side. She looked down and saw a blood pool forming at her feet before turning to her side. There was a large cut in he side, from which all the blood was coming from. Vapor screamed at the sight, and began running, as if she could escape her own injury. She backed herself into a tree, and began to cry._

"Why are you crying?"

_Vapor shot her head up, frantically searching for the source of the new voice. She stopped when she saw a pokemon. It was a small pokemon, but it seemed to float in the air. It's body was pink, and it had a long tail. It had large legs and short arms with three fingers on each of it's paws._

"Where am I? Why are you here? I just want to be with John, but... I can't find him..."

_The pink pokemon began to glow and did a few barrel rolls in the air before flying around the poor, confused eevee. A room begain to take form, almost as if a swirling gas was forming the walls and other objects. It was dark inside the room, but Vapor could see medical equipment. It was a pokemon center. There was a small, brown object in what looked like an incubation box. Vapor went to get a closer look, but then realized... it was her._

_She backed away slowly, shaking her head side to side._

"No no. I'm not dead, am I? I can't be dead... what about..."

_The pink pokemon cut her off, and spoke in an cheery tone. _"No, you aren't dead! Don't even think that. You're just fast asleep, well deserved after what you went through. Your trainer brought you here when you were hurt by one of the meanies in this world. But your trainer... he cares for you very much, more than most of the humans I see."

_Was the pink pokemon talking about... John?_

"John? Where is he? Is he okay?"

_The pink pokemon glowed once more, and suddenly they were in a lounge area, still in the pokemon center. A boy was walking in circles around the room, obviously worried._

_The pink pokemon spoke again. _"He's been like this for a while now. He ran all the way here when you were hurt, but the nurses here helped you get better."

_The pink pokemon disappeared from Vapor's side, but repeared outside the center's windows._

"Its nice to have someone who loves you like he does, eevee."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

_The pink pokemon only smiled. _"You need to wake up; wake up and he will be there next to you."

_Vapor suddenly felt pain in her sides. It seemed as if the darkness was surrounding her again. It slowly engulfed the area surrounding Vapor, until she had nothing left to see in the endless darkness._

oOo

"Chansy? Can you check on Vapor's condition again? Please?"

The pokemon sighed, as the boy asked the same question every five minutes, but nodded.

"Thank you."

A swarm of thoughts were going through John's head at the moment. John paced back and forth in the Pokemon Center's lobby area. Was Vapor alright? Did he make it to town in time? Why couldn't he have done more to help Vapor? It almost felt as if this was his fault. He noticed something move in the corner of his eye, and immediately spun to look that direction. There was a pink blur outside the window, but it was too dark to pick out any more details. He looked out the window into the moonless night. He saw a faint silhouette in the starry sky.

John starred at the sky for a bit before returning to a seat in the lobby. He had left his backpack on the road to travel more quickly. His blue jacket was covered in blood from carrying Vapor to the center. He would probably need to get a new bag and jacket here in town... unless Vapor doesn't make it... then what would be the point?

John remembered the pokedex he had been given by Falkner. He took it out and flipped it open. The start screen appeared... but it said something odd.

'National Mode'

That couldn't be right... starting trainers only get a regional pokedex. John accessed the expansion information on the pokedex.

'This pokedex has been upgraded with a National Card to enable Sinnoh National Mode capabilities. This National Card is also equipped to upgrade it's listing when the Isshu National Pokedex listing is assembled and released to pokemon trainers.'

Falkner gave him a National pokedex. Falkner must have really trusted him as a trainer... but he had already messed up.

"Mr. Ruclib?"

John looked up to see a pokemon nurse with red, curly hair.

"Just call me John. Is Vapor okay?"

"Your eevee is doing fine. All she needs is a good rest and she will be just as healthy as ever. It is nice to see that there are still trainers as caring as you are. By the way, about the boy that did this..."

The nurse held up a PDA device. There was the picture of the boy in black on it. "Yes it was him. He tried to steal Vapor after we beat two of his pokemon in a battle."

John had already spoken to an officer about the ordeal when he arrived at the pokemon center.

The nurse nodded. "We will alert Johto pokemon centers and authorities about this trainer. If he really did this to your pokemon, what would he do to others?"

"Thank you nurse," the nurse turned to leave, but John asked one more question, "Is it okay if I could see Vapor?"

"She will be asleep, but of course you can."

The nurse directed John through the door to see Vapor as a small, pink pokemon floated outside a window, watching the caring trainer.

oOo

Vapor slowly woke from the strange dream. It was odd, the dream felt so real... so vivid. She felt something soft and warm around her hand, so she looked over to see what it was. John was holding one of Vapor's paws with one hand, and was using his other available arm as a pillow. He was asleep. It was still nightime. Vapor looked around the room. She saw the same medical equipment she saw in her dream. It was the same room as her dream. Was her dream really a dream if the room matched up so closely to what she saw? Her head was beginning to hurt... and her entire body was still sore. Vapor cuddled up to John before drifting off into sleep in John's arms.

oOo

It was morning. Vapor stretched out before rolling over. She felt much better than she felt the night before. She noticed John was already awake and was watching her with his head on his arms which were resting on the table.

_"Hey you little creeper."  
_  
"Huh? Oh yeah... well I didn't want to wake you, so I figured I'd wait for you to wake up. Besides... you're really cute when you're curled up in a fluffy ball."

Vapor giggled, _"Right."_

The center's nurse walked into the room. She was smiling. "I'm glad to see that your eevee is awake. From her examination, I believe that she will make a full recovery from her injuries. However I do recommend that she rest for a few days more to let her bones properly heal before you continue your excitement as a trainer."

"Hey, I know! We could take a vacation here in Cherrygrove before we head off to New Bark Town."

_"But we only just left Violet City a few days ago."  
_  
"That doesn't mean we can't have a break from traveling. Besides, I want to go to the beach, and I bet you would too."

_"Well... alright. The ocean sounds really nice right about now." _Vapor looked at the bloodstains on John's jacket. _"Maybe we should get you some new clothes too."_

"I think your eevee will be well enough to leave tomorrow. For today, you need to rest."

oOo

Vapor was right. His old jacket was stained with blood, so now he needed a new one. Vapor was exited to pick out something that she liked, but all John really wanted was something that was comfortable. He remembered a store his parents shopped at when he was a child. It was a small store located near the beach. Carefully carrying Vapor in his arms after the nurse had let them leave the pokemon center earlier in the afternoon, John decided to head towards that store to pick up a new jacket and some supplies. He was only wearing his white T-shirt that he normally wore under his jacket and his tattered jeans.

Vapor was asleep, as she has been for the past few hours letting John finally think without being filled with worry. Cherrygrove was his hometown... but it felt so weird to be back. Everything seemed familiar, but after five years of growing up, nothing felt like it should have. His mental map seemed off too, as he became lost on his way to the store. Vapor began to stir while John walked in the cool evening breeze. She was fully awake when John had found his way to the store.

John found a small clothing section inside of the store. He looked around for jackets, and found a rack with jackets designed for trainers. Now all he had to do was find one that Vapor approved of. Luckily it didn't take long for them to agree on one that looked nice and fit comfortably. Next, he had to get a new bag and some supplies. He still figured his old bag was on the path, but expected nothing to be left there. He found his way to a blue single-strapped bag. The bag looked sleek and fit comfortably, and being comfortable was what he was looking for. Besides, it was big enough for Vapor to jump inside and still have lots of room. John grabbed the jacket, the bag, some supplies, and then grabbed two empty pokeballs before proceeding to buy the pile of goods he had just collected.

John now walked out of the store with his new jacket, though he kept the same jeans. The jacket was purple and red and had the common pokemon symbol on one side of the chest, much like most of the products aimed towards pokemon trainers. It had a few pockets for holding small items, and a few clips near the side pockets for pokeballs, though John would stick to his belt for holding pokeballs. His jeans were still ragged and worn, with some tear near the end of the leg and at the knee. His new pack fit over his shoulder with a single diagonal strap across his chest.

"Well a new adventure calls for new gear, right?"

_"It looks better that what you had, too."_

The sun was setting over the horizon of the ocean, with half of it covered by a distant cliff. The final rays of the sun sparkled and danced across the water before it disappeared below the surface. John and Vapor walked under a purple and orange sky, as the sun's light still reflected off the clouds above. They were determined to follow up on the plan to go to the beach.

_"Its starting to get late. We're still going to the beach?"_

"Sure, why not. Maybe we won't get to go swimming, but being on the beach at night is great."

A few faint memories John had of his parents includes the times when they would all go to the beach at night and gaze at the stars.

When the two reached the beach, they were the only ones there. Any other person that might have been at the beach had gone home to rest, so John and Vapor had the beach all to themselves. John put Vapor down and went to lay down next to her. The light of the sun had now disappeared almost completely, and the entire starry sky was easily visible in this small town with very little light to intrude upon it.

"They say there are patterns of stars in the sky that look like pokemon. When my parents brought me to the beach during the night as a kid, they showed me a few of them and told me stories about them."

_"There are pokemon in the sky?"_

"If you look hard enough, you can see them." John pointed into the sky, "You see the stars right there that look like a dipper? People say it looks like a teddiursa. And if you connect it with other stars around it, it becomes an ursaring."

_"Wow, I can almost see them. I never though of doing that with stars. Are there any other pokemon in the sky?"_

"There are... but I don't remember them. I think there is a gardevoir formation, and a Kyogre too. Some even say there is a pikachu in the sky too. I never found them, or know their stories."

John looked over to his small and fluffy eevee. The stars seemed to sparkle off of her emerald-green eyes as she stared up at the sky. John remembered the Mystic Water necklace he had, and took it out and held it against the dark night sky, before turning back to Vapor and clipping on the necklace.

_"Why are you giving this to me? I thought it belonged to your mother?" _Vapor stared at the dewdrop that hung around her neck.

"Well, it looks a lot better on you... and besides... you're the most important person to me right now. I just wanted you to have it. Vapor... I'm... sorry for everything that has happened."

_"Huh? What do you mean?"  
_  
"Well, its... you almost died. I don't know what I would have done if I lost you... one of my only friends. And... you almost died because of me."

_"What? No. No, don't say that. You did nothing wrong. It wasn't your fault. You don't have to be sorry for anything."_

"I was the one who accepted the battle. I'm the reason you were hurt. We should have just walked away. Maybe we should just head back home, away from the dangers... somewhere safe."

Tears were forming in John's eyes. He closed them and a single teardrop began to roll down his cheek. Vapor limped over to John and licked the tear off his cheek.

_"Hey, you've always talked of becoming a pokemon trainer... don't let one little thing stop your dream." _Vapor took a few steps back and sat in the sand. She looked into the night sky once again. _"Besides, we have each other. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. You saved me from that boy... and you saved me from the fearow five years ago."_

John pulled his eevee into a hug. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just... afraid. After all that happened in my life... and what almost happened to you..."

_"But you're always there for me," _Vapor nuzzled John neck, _"And I'll always be there for you."_

John stood back up, with Vapor in his arms, and rubbed the last tears from his eyes.

"Well, then. Maybe we should get some rest. Its a long way to New Bark Town."

Vapor smiled, and the two headed back towards the pokemon center for the night.

* * *

A/N: Slight delay, since the last story, got a new computer and then StarCraft II came out. And then School started. Read and Review and flame if you want to. :D Aww and the story gets mushy on you hehe, changed to Romance.


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